Feeding device for ensilage-cutting machines.



E. H. SCOTT.

YFIEEIIIING DEVICE FORENSILAGE CUTTING MACHINES,

Patented. Apr. 273 1915.

4APPLICATION FILED IUNE 5,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET IITTQ l III" Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented. Apr. 72T?, 19Std.

T0 all whom, may concern.'

Be it ltnowri that l, lLisi-ra lil. Sco'rr, a citizen 'ot' the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county oli lllayne and State of indiana, have inrented certain new and ru'seul improvements in Feeding Devices for llnsilage-Cutting Machines, oiE which the following is a specification, reiterence being 'had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to feeding devices for ensilage cutting machines and the like.

Theohject of the invention is to provide `nieans 'for exerting the desired pressure on the movable one oit a pair of feeding rollers in sueha manner as to secure a large amount oit dexibility and to enable the roller to automatically accommodate itself to varying quantities or" material and to diderent quantities of material on diierent sides of thev feed-way; and further, to provide such means which will permit the pressure to he adjusted to accommodate the same to or to conipensate for resistance which may he offered to .one end or the other of the inovable roller. I

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a. perspective View, partially broken away, of a portion of an ensilage cutter embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail view ot the weight box, and Fig, 3 is a transverse sectional view, with the feed rollers and the f weight box in elevation.

ln these drawings l have illustrated one embodiment of my invention and have shown the saine as embodied in an ensilagc cutter comprising a casing l, in which is lo cated a rotary cutter, not here shown. I

Leading to the cutting mechanism is a feed chute 2 which is here shown provided with a conveyor 3 which, however, may be dispensed with if desired. v

Arranged at the inner end of the chute 2 and between the chute and the cutting mechanism are feeding roll ers 4 and 5 which serve to ieed the material to the cutting mechanism. These rollers are connected one l to the other by means of gearing 6 and are positively drivenj in a well known manner which it is not necessary to here describe. One of the rollers, preferably tlie upper; roller, is adjustabletwvard and away from the lower roller to pe mit it to accommodate itself to different quantities of material. ln

order to permit of this movement the shaft 7, by .means oifwliich the roller is connected with the gearing (i, is formed in two parts and the two parte connected by a universal joint tl, thuspernxitting the rise and fall of the roller without affecting the driving operation. y'

` lt is necessary that pressure should oe exerted upon the upper roller7 ll, to cause it to properly act upon the material which is being i'ed to the cutter. Heretofqre springs have been used tor this purpose lout the throw a long one and the spring or springs which could be used wouldnot allow of the desired degree oi: flexibility .and the roller would not tilt autonniticaily7 to an extent necessary to cause it to. feed a large quantity of material on one Yside of the 'feediway and a relatively sinall quantity of material on the other Nside of the feedway. Further, the driving `shaft 7 which is connected to one end of the roller tends to exert a downward pull thereon and thus to increase the pressure at :that end of the roller, causing the material. to be fed inorerapidly there than at the other end. To overcome these difficulties and to secure the necessary pressure with the desired amount of flexibility l have provided means whereby weights may loe utilized for this purpose. To this end guideways are :termed in the f ame of the machine alcove the upper tee-d roller and, 'in the present instance, these guidewa-ys, which are shown at 9, are merely extensions of the guideways in which the hearings l0 for the 'respective ends of the upper feed roller are mounted.

- Mounted above the upper feed roller and controlled by the guideways 9 is what may loe termed a weight-boit ll, that is, a device adapted tosupport a weight or weights connected with the upper feed roller to ex ert thereon the desired pressure. This weight-box is here shown as having a hottom, one side and two end walls, each end wall being provided witlvilugs or guides 32 adaptedfto move in the ,respective guideways 9. These lugs are pivotally connected at their lower ends, as shown at 13, to upwardly extending lugs or fingers 14 carried by the respective bea-rings for the roller.

Obviously, the shape of the supporting device and the manner of connecting the saine with the roller may he varied. It will of the weight of dichos is carriedv by the miler bomxvehichis usually made of cast iron, not onlyhasponsiderable Weight in itself, but is "capable of receiving plates or bars, as'

i shown atl in Fig. 2, which Will add to its weight to the desired extent. v Further it wie be noaa that these bars may be of ifferent lengths or may beheavier at one end than at the other end so` as to enable a greater Weight to be added at one endof the roller than is added atthe other end of the roller. The Weights may be securedin the box in any suitable manner, but as here L shown, the boX is provided at each end with and it Will be apparent that as the upperfeed: roller tilts to adjust itself to different' quantities of material Yat different ends thereofthe 'Weight box 'or pressure device :will still maintain'a Working. pressure upon both ends thereof. Moreover, this pressure is not only a Working pressure but is substantially the normal pressure, that is to say, the manner of connecting the box'with the 'roller is such that the pressure exerted upon the ends of the roller when the latter is tilted from the normal or horizontal position is substantially the same as is exerted upon these ends when they are in their normal positions. The importance of a construction 'Which Will maintain the Working pressure upon the roller when the same is tilted from its normal position is at once obvious when it is understood that in ensilage cutting machines, which operate upon stalks -of green corn, the rise and fall of the feeding roller is frequently five or six inches Y and that one end of the roller may be moved to substantially the full height, While the other Will drop almost to its lower-most position. Unless the pressure is equalized and maintained on both ends of the roller the stalks at the lower end will either'not feed at all or-Will feed forward irregularly, causingan unequal cut and unsatisfactory product, as Well as reducing the capacity of the machine.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention it will be understood that this has been. chosen for the purpose of illustration only and -that l do not desire to be limited to the ydetails of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.v I further Wish it to be understood that the cut-ofi for' controlling 'the feed, which is shown but not described or claimed in the present application, does giaceva not form a part of the present invention but forms thes'ubject matter of a separate ;4 plication for patent filed May :29th, 1913, Ser. No. 770,668.

' Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as newY and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a pair of feed rollers, one of which is movable toward and away from the other and is also capable of movement about a transverse horizontal axis, of a Weighted pressure device movably supported above the movable feed roller and connected to the opposite ends thereof to maintain working pressure upon both ends of said roller when the latter is moved about its transverse axis.

2. The combination, with ta pair of feed` rollers, one of which is movable toward and away from the other and is also capable of movement about a transverse horizontal axis, of a Weighted pressure device movably supported above themovable feed roller and connected to the opposite' ends thereof to maintain substantially normal pressure upon both ends of said roller when thejlattert'.

is moved about its transverse axis. l 3. The combination, rwith a pair of feed rollers, one of which is movabletoward and.

away from the other and is also oapableof movementabout a transverse horizontal" axis; of a Weighted pressure device movably supported above the movable feed roller and pivotally connected to the opposite ends thereof on transverse axes above the axis of .n said roller.

lollers, one of Which is movable towardand away from the other and is also capable of movement about a transverse horizontal axis, of a weight box movably supported above said movable feed roller and plvotally connected to the opposite ends of saidroller on axes above the/axis thereof, and Weights removably mounted in said Weight box to regulate the pressure upon said feed roller.

6. The combination, with a pair of feed rollers, one of which is movable toward,` and away from the other and is also capable of .movement about a transverse horizontal axis, of a Weight box movably supported `above said movable feed roller and pivotally connected to the opposite ends of said roller on axes above the axis thereof, and means 5. The combination, with a pair of feedl ideama to retain Weights of diEerent sizes in fixed 7. The combination, with a pair of feed ,1ol1ers, one of which is movable toward and away from the other and is also capable of movement about a transverse horizontal axis, and a driving shaft connected to one end of said movable roller to impart rotary movement thereto and tojpermit of the vertical movement thereof, of a Weighted pressure device supported above and connected With said movable feed roller, and means for increasing the Weight of said pressure device at that end opposite the end of the roller to Which said shaft is connected.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination, with a frame member having guideways, a pair of feeding,l rollers mounted in said frame, bearings for one of said rollers mounted in said guide'ways, a nger secured to each of said bearings, a Weightsupporting device having lugs at its opposite ends extending into said guidevvaysv above said bearings, said lugs being pivotally connected to the fingers of the respective bearings.

9. The combination, with a pair of feeding rollers, one of which is movable toward and away from the other, of a Weight-box movably supported above said movable feeding roller and connected to the opposite ends thereof, said Weight-box comprising a bottom andend Walls, said end walls having ribs on the inner faces thereof, a pin ex` tending upwardly from the bottom of said box, and a weight having an opening to re ceive said pin and having notches at its ends to receive the ribs in the respective end Walls of said weight-box.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

ELISHA H. SCOTT. Witnesses:

ALVA E. ALEXANDER, Y BERT H. HORN. 

